Limbaugh runs with homeless-cell phone smear (Media Matters)

[struggle4progress]

During the March 6 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh, discussing a photo of Michelle Obama's March 5 visit to a Washington, D.C., homeless shelter that featured a man photographing Obama using a cell phone, said that "the homeless and the poor are showing up taking pictures of her with their cell phones." Limbaugh later added: "What we have, ladies and gentlemen, is a giant welfare state that's in the process of being manufactured. That the Democrat Party will preside over forever. Because everybody or enough people are going to need the goodwill of Democrats in power in order to get by. Like, you're going to have to see the first lady behind the counter at McDonald's when you go in there as your poverty-stricken day drags on -- take a picture with your cell phone while you go in there and get your McNuggets or whatever's being handed out that day." However, homeless advocates have stated that cell phones are a "lifeline" for the homeless and noted the importance of having a stable phone number in trying to find jobs ...

http://mediamatters.org/items/200903060032?f=h_latest

A lot of homeless people actually work but don't make enough to pay for all their needs

[MercutioATC]

1. Cellphones are no longer a luxury, they're just a utility.

Rush wouldn't make the same claim about a poor person having a landline.....because he's an old, out-of-touch fuck.

One of the things people need to "pull themselves up by their bootstraps" is a way to send and receive communications. Simply put, if you're trying to get a job you need a phone.

I have a job, a house, 3 cars, a 401k...and no landline. A cellphone is more cost-effective. Anybody who knows anything about 21st century technology knows that cellphones are more versatile, and often cheaper, than landlines...and you don't have to have a physical address to have a cell.

[lurky]

2. People have cellphones in the slums of India and Africa now.

I was in Soweto last year, and everybody had one. They are mostly cheap, hand-me-down phones, and everybody uses pre-paid service. Because of the cost, people are very careful about using them. Sometimes they use tricks to avoid airtime, like, "Call me twice in a row and hang up if you are going to be late."

If people there can swing it, homeless people in America can do it.